Dog found under rubble 9 days after Ill. tornado

WASHINGTON, Ill. (AP) -- A six-month-old pit bull that was buried under a pile of rubble for more than a week after a tornado ripped through a central Illinois city has been coaxed to freedom with hot dogs and reunited with his owner.

Jacob Montgomery, a member of the Illinois National Guard, was separated from the dog, Dexter, when the Nov. 17 tornado destroyed his third-floor apartment in Washington. Montgomery combed through the wreckage multiple times but turned up no sign of Dexter.

Nine days after the storm, a neighbor who was looking for his cat, also missing, with the help of a group called Rescuing Animals in Need sent Montgomery a Facebook message to tell him Dexter had been found partially buried in debris where the apartment building used to stand.

The girl chewing on her lip was abused by a relative, according to police reports - someone she should have been able to trust. He's not in the state any longer, but the criminal case is progressing slowly, so he's not in jail, either. She still leaves in fear, but this unruly-looking mob in her driveway is there to help her feel safe again. They are members of the Arizona chapter of Bikers Against Child Abuse International, and they wear their motto on their black leather vests and T-shirts: "No child deserves to live in fear."

Poll: Christie, Clinton Lead Possible 2016 Primary Fields

The CNN/ORC poll released Friday found that 24 percent of Republicans and Independents who are likely to vote Republican in the next presidential election would back Christie. That's an increase of 7 percentage points from the last CNN poll that included the question in September. Thirteen percent, meanwhile, said they would back Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) in the GOP Republican primary followed by 11 percent for Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), and 10 percent for Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX)
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For the 2016 Democratic primary, 63 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning Independents said they would back Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary, the poll found. Just 12 percent said they would back Vice President Joe Biden in a 2016 primary. Behind Clinton and Biden, 7 percent said they would vote for Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) if she decided to run for president in 2016, 5 percent said they would support New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, and 2 percent said they would back Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley.

Remember the scary stories from Republicans about how the President was taking money away from Medicare and how frequently it was repeated here to slam the ACA.

The cynic in me can't help but think that should everything play out according to that plan, the BCS will somehow find a way to match up NIU and UCF against one another in the Fiesta Bowl on New Year's Day, just as they did a few years ago with Boise State and TCU -- thus sparing the so-called name-brand programs from the SEC, Big 12, etc., any potential indignity of losing to either one or both of those two uppity upstarts in front of a national TV audience.